Spray painting is a painting technique where a device sprays a coating (paint, ink, varnish, etc.) through the air onto a surface. The most common types employ compressed gas—usually air—to atomize and direct the paint particles. Air gun spraying is typically used for covering large surfaces with an even coating of liquid. Spray guns can be either automated or hand-held and have interchangeable heads to allow for different spray patterns.
To spray paint with a gun, the spray gun must be in motion as it commences across the surface to be painted. As you pull the trigger on some spray guns, the first projection will be air followed by paint. The goal is to feather the paint onto the surface as you start spraying the surface and then to feather the paint off the surface as you complete the arc with your arm. A painter should hold his wrist firmly so the spray gun always remains at right angles to the surface. The heaviest paint concentration is usually in the center of the spray pattern and the edges of the pattern feather out. As a painter goes back and forth across the surface he should lap these feathered edges so the paint will be the same thickness throughout.
There are many techniques for using a spray gun. Generally, the painter uses a swaying back and forth motion to spray the paint onto the surface. While this is generally the best approach for applying an even spray to the surface, a painter must work in small areas to keep an even coating. One reason a painter must work in a small area is because the layer of paint is greater as the painter sways the paint gun directly in front of his body and is less thick when he sways to the side. This is based in large part on the angle in which the spray gun is aimed at the target surface. If a painter attempts to cover a large area at one time he will have a very thick layer of paint directly in front of him (when the spray gun is at 90 degrees) and will have a much thinner layer as the spray gun becomes more angled in relation to the target surface.
Ideally, as the painter sprays he will keep the nozzle about a foot or less away from the surface and will direct the nozzle of the gun at a 90-degree angle to the vertical surface. It is important for even coverage that a painter keeps the spray gun as square to the surface as possible. Generally, a painter must twist his wrist in just the right amount to keep the spray gun angle correct. This is a skill that takes time and experience to grasp.
In addition to holding s spray gun, it is also common for painters to use spray gun extenders. There are different types of spray gun extenders, and all of them exacerbate the problem of uneven spraying because extenders increase the swaying range of motion, and thus the angle at which the painter directs the paint to the target surface during each back and forth motion. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a paint gun extender allowing a painter to direct the paint gun head as he moves in a swaying back and forth motion. Furthermore, there is a need in the art for a paint gun extender that allows a painter to twist his wrist in order to twist the spray gun head. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a spray paint gun extender allowing the painter to easily change the spray gun angle in relation to the target surface as he moves in a back and forth motion.